“Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity.” - Michael Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School

We have developed the first international, non-proprietary online platform which is dedicated to allowing financial services firms to make use of open innovation.

The platform by the name IdeaVault.ch provides financial services vendors with the opportunity to harness the creativity and intelligence of worldwide users to generate ideas with which to improve their business proposition.

Companies are entering a new phase in their relationship with their clients. During the past few years and following the idea of open innovation, ever more products and services were optimized based on the implementation of customer ideas and suggestions.

So far the financial services sector has failed to capitalize on this trend. Yet open innovation offers financial services companies a wealth of opportunities to swiftly improve their businesses, just as it does in any other industry. IdeaVault.ch brings firms and customers together as facilitated by an easy-to-use online platform where companies can pose questions and customers can suggest solutions. The best idea originator will be awarded with a prize offered by the company posing the question.

Anyone can register on IdeaVault.ch – either as an innovator or as a financial services company seeking innovations. Given the research nature of the project, the usage of IdeaVault.ch is free of charge for companies and private individuals alike.

IdeaVault.ch was developed by a team of professionals headed by Prof. Dr. Patrick Schüffel, the Director of the Institute of Finance at the Fribourg School of Management, and Iustin Vadana, the owner and head of Vadana Research & Web Consulting, managed the technical implementation.

The platform was created as part of a scientific research project which aims to find answers to the question why open innovation is so scarcely applied in the financial services industry.

Sponsored by the Réseau de Compétences de Suisse Occidentale (RCSO) and developed by the School of Management Fribourg, the initiative represents a real opportunity for financial services companies to adapt their offering to current market requirements. “The platform connects banks, insurance companies and asset managers on the one hand, and innovators on the other. It creates a win-win situation by allowing financial service companies to leverage the creativity and intelligence of IdeaVault.ch-users and by awarding those users for their contributions” stated Prof. Schüffel, the project coordinator.